


unspoken

by fleeting interest (NorthOfSomewhere)



Category: The Strain (TV)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Ficlet, Flash Fic, M/M, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29585397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorthOfSomewhere/pseuds/fleeting%20interest
Summary: Fet never asks if he's okay.Eph appreciates it.
Relationships: Vasiliy Fet/Ephraim Goodweather
Kudos: 1





	unspoken

Fet never asks if he's okay.

Eph appreciates it.

In the darkness, in the quiet, they can just _be._

They don't kiss at first. A rule that's never spoken aloud but one they both understand.

He wants to pretend, at least for a little while, that everything is as it was before. That his son is alive, that his wife is still alive. Hell, he'd take his wife's (ex, ex-wife he tells himself, don't forget that little fact.) boyfriend being there if it meant that his family was safe.

Setrakian doesn't say much either. At least not with words, but his eyes speak volumes. He avoids him as much as he can in this small place. He doesn't want to snap at him, rubber band anger stretched to it's limits. Eph can't stand the compassion there. Not when the whole thing is _his_ fault. If Eph were a better father, a better husband... Maybe things would be different.

Or perhaps it was always going to be this way.

It doesn't matter.

Thinking of the what-ifs won't help anyone. Least of all, himself. Each time he falls down that particular rabbit hole, it brings him a hair closer to downing a bottle of alcohol and taking a flying leap off the roof.

So.

He doesn't ask where Dutch is.

And he tells himself that Fet appreciates it.

There's a certain fondness in the way he touches him that makes Eph believe it.

He doesn't want to get accustomed to this. Recent events have taught him, harshly, that nothing is a forever guarantee. Not marriage, not outliving your child. Certainly not whatever he and Fet have between them.

He doesn't want to, but he does.

Enough that there are words he could say. A morning _I love you_ said over a cup of coffee.

He could say those words, and they would be true, but he won't, can't.

It'll be just another thing they don't talk about.   
  



End file.
